pinetum

Forms

pīnētum n (genitive pīnētī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin pīnus (“pine”) + -ētum, with the suffix for a place where a plant grows.^[2][3][4] De Vaan finds the origin of pīnus unclear: it may share a base with Ancient Greek πίναξ (pínax, “wooden board, plank”) or a root with πίτυς (pítus, “pine-tree”), may be a non-Indo-European tree name, or may continue a cluster such as Proto-Italic *pik-sno-, linking it with pix (“pitch”), which suits trees known for their resin.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler records it first in Propertius.^[3] The dictionaries cite Ovid's Fasti, which speaks of ridges girt with pinewoods, cīnctaque pīnētīs … iuga.^[6][7][8]

Semantic evolution

It always meant a wood or grove of pines;^[2][6] Pliny the Elder also uses it.^[6][7] Medieval Latin kept the sense,^[9][10] and an English word list explains it as a place where pines grow.^[10] One glossary uses it for a single pine tree.^[10]

It lives on in Italian pineta and Occitan pineda, whence French pinède, and was borrowed into English as pinetum.^[1][8]

Timeline

• 57/46–12 BC – Propertius uses it.^[3]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of ridges girt with pinewoods.^[6][3]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it.^[6][3]
• 1242 – A grant in the Gascon Rolls includes pinewoods among the lands.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A pinewood, pine grove.^[2][6]
2. (Medieval Latin) A pine tree.^[10]

Related words

• pīnus
• English pinetum

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
9. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
10. ^ a b c d e Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press